Stew with bacon – 6 servings

Ingredients

400 g bacon
1 big onion
1 dl dried green beans
1 dl barley grain
2 early garden turnip
3-4 sprays of kale
1 l water
Salt, thyme, juniper berries, fresh oregano

Put the beans to soak.

Boil the coarsely chopped onion, bacon, barley grain and the soaked peas in water for 1.5 hours with 1 tablespoon of salt, juniper berries and thyme (check that the peas are ready). Remove the bacon and cut it into slices or cubes. Put it back into the pot together with turnips in cubes and coarsly chopped kale and let it boil for 10-15 minutes. Add more salt, if needed, and serve with finely chopped fresh oregano.

Bread

Ingredients

5 dl milk (or water)
1 kg barley meal
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
Wheat-flour

Prepare a quite heavy dough of barley meal and milk and add the other ingredients. The amount of milk might vary.

Let the dough rest for a while. Roll out or form the dough to thin, round cakes, prick them and fry them on a heating frying pan or frying plate over live coal. Serve with butter.

Barbecued lamb spits (8 pcs)

Ingredients

1 kg lamb meat
2 big onions
1 dl lard
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon dried or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 dl hop
1 bunch of chives
8 spits

Prepare a marinade of melted lard, salt and green herbs. Soak the grill spits in water. Cut lamb meat into cubes of approx. 2 cm. Cut the onions into eight pieces. Place a piece of onion in each end of the spit and the lamb cubes in the middle. Marinade the lamb spits for 30 minutes. Grill on clean live coal for 8-10 minutes.
Roll the prepared spits in finely chopped chives.

Kroppkakor (Dumplings with chopped pork filling)

Ingredients

1 kg barley meal
400 g salted bacon
Water
1 jar of Swedish soft wheycheese (Messmör)
Butter

Prepare a dough of barley meal and enough water to let the dough slip from humid hands. Cut the bacon into fine cubes. Make a roll of the dough, cut it into thick slices, put a tablespoon of filling in the middle of the slice and fold the slice until it has the shape of a bun. Put the buns into simmering salt water and let them cook gently for approx. 30 minutes. Serve with butter and/or Swedish soft wheycheese.

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Recipes: Preparing Dried Beans

2 1/4 cups of dried beans equals 1 pound

Rinse the beans until the water runs clear (or until you get tired of rinsing them). Cover with several inches of water, and soak overnight (more is fine).

Rinse again, and then put them in a cooking pan, cover them with an inch or so of water, and add a tablespoon or two of baking soda. Bring it to a boil - it will foam up, so you need to keep an eye on it to prevent it from boiling over. This helps reduce the gassiness of the cooked beans.

Rinse well, and cover with an inch or so of water, bring to a boil, and then simmer for at least an hour and a half.

Household Tips: Waterproofing Leather Boots

1) Remove the laces;

2) Coat boots thickly with mink oil, and let them stand overnight (under a radiator if you have one - the heat seems to help the oil soak in);

3) Wipe them off, and (ideally) repeat the process.

Recipes: Tea

Black tea - for a strong black tea, steep up to (but no more than) 5 minutes

Green tea - do not steep green tea over three minutes.

If you steep the tea too long, it will begin to develop a bitter taste.

Household Tips: Toothpaste

Mix equal amounts of baking soda and salt, and sprinkle onto a damp toothbrush.

Recipes: Quick Pancakes (one person)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

baking powder and baking soda - I don't measure, but I use a lot because I like them puffy - I suppose 2 or 3 tsp of powder and 1 a tsp of soda

1 tbsp or so of oil

1 tbsp or more of honey

1 egg

milk - enough to make the right consistency

Blend the oil and egg. Add the baking powder and soda, and mix it in well. Add the flour, and then enough milk to bring it to the right consistency. Cook on greased (cast iron) pan on fairly low heat.

This makes two large pancakes.

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Recipes: Basic Granola

3 1/2 cups of rolled oats and/or other flaked grains

1/2 cup of oil

1/2 cup of honey

3/4 cup of apple juice, cider, or apple juice concentrate

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

nuts

dried fruit: any fruits in any combination

Combine all of the dry ingredients except the fruit. Bring the apple juice and honey to a simmer, and mix well into the mixture.

Spread onto a cookie sheet (or sheets) and bake 50 - 60 minutes at 250 degrees, mixing and turning every 10 minutes. It should be a light brown when it's done - be VERY CAREFUL not to overcook, or it will have a burned taste.

Remove from the tray and mix in the dried fruit.

Household Tips: Curing Cast Iron

Some of the best cast iron that I have has come from Goodwill - people buy it, use it once without curing it, wash it (probably in the dishwasher) and end up with a nasty looking mess.

1) Before using cast iron: rinse it off, and dry it on a burner. Coat it thoroughly (inside and out) with fat - solid fat is generally better than cooking oil, but I don't use shortening, and the animal fat goes into soap: I've never had trouble with liquid oil;

2) Put the pans in an oven preheated to 200 degrees, bake for an hour, and then allow them to completely cool while still in the oven. You may need to treat them more than once, and it takes quite a bit of use and oiling before they're well treated, but once they are it's like using a non-stick pan;

3) I wash my cast iron when I need to - just dry it on the stovetop and oil it well after you're done.

Household Tips: Homemade Shampoo

1) Make a paste of baking soda, and work it well into your roots and scalp.

2) Rinse with water.

3) Do thorough rinse with apple cider vinegar.

4) Rinse out the vinegar.

This avoids the oily buildup that you get with shampoo, doesn't contain the witches brew of chemicals, and doesn't need to be done every day (or so I hear - I can't bring myself to change a lifetime habit of washing my hair every day).

Recipes: Moroccan Bread

4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups water

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp honey

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp yeast

1 tbsp gluten (optional)

Mix the honey and 1/2 cup of water (blood warm), add the yeast, and cover for 5-10 minutes - it should foam up.

Mix the dry ingredients, then add the yeast mixture, and most of the remaining water (don't put it all in - add it as needed - you want to add as little water as possible). Knead for approximately 10 minutes.

Cover, and put in a warm spot for an hour or until it has roughly doubled in size.

Punch it down. Divide in half, and work into two round, flat loaves (sometimes I do it as one large round loaf). Put it on an oiled cookie sheet and again, cover and allow it to rise for an hour.

Bake at 400 degrees - approximately 20 minutes for two loaves, and 40 minutes for one loaf. It is done when thumping the bottom of the loaf makes a hollow sound.

Household Tips: Oil Lamps

It's always good to have a couple oil lamps or lanterns and a supply of fuel around. Most people can figure out how to use an oil lamp on their own, but here are a couple of tips that might be handy:

1) When buying a lamp, always test the mechanism which raises and lowers the wick - if it doesn't work, or if it sticks, don't buy it;

2) The way that you cut the wick will determine the amount of light - I have always cut it in a curve, but you need to experiment - the best light I've ever gotten came from a wick which burned a little because it wasn't drawing oil, and ended up in an odd shape;

3) Turn the wick down low when you first light it, and gradually raise it as the chimney warms - this will prevent soot on the glass;

4) If it smokes, the wick is too high;

5) Kerosene is much cheaper than anything sold as "lamp oil" and is safe to store.

6) Put a piece of red thread in the fuel reservoir to prevent the lamp from exploding - I know that this is pure superstition, but I've always done it and I've never had a lamp explode :-)

Household Tips: Burned food in a pan

Fill the pan with enough water to cover the burned food (a couple of inches at least), bring to a boil, and shake in some baking soda. It will foam up - allow it to cool.